By Chris Fournier Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar traded at almost the lowest level in more than a month versus its U.S. counterpart and underperformed its commodity-linked peers as global equities and oil fluctuated. “The Canadian dollar is underperforming and should be doing a little better,” said Firas Askari, head currency trader in Toronto at Bank of Montreal, Canada’s fourth-largest lender. Askari is “watching for equity and commodity stability.” The Canadian currency was little changed at C$1.0579 per U.S. dollar at 8:04 a.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.0578 on Jan. 22, when it touched C$1.0603, the weakest level since Dec. 22. One Canadian dollar buys 94.54 U.S. cents. Canada’s currency lagged behind all of the U.S. dollar’s 16 most-traded counterparts tracked by Bloomberg except the yen. The Australia and New Zealand dollars, which like Canada’s currency tend to rise and fall with stocks and commodities, were among today’s top four performers versus the greenback. The MSCI World Index, a gauge of equities in 23 developed nations, was little changed after falling 3.8 percent last week. Crude oil for March delivery was little changed at $74.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures reached the lowest level in a month last week. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

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